Assignment on managing Organization Change

“Assignment on managing Organization Change”
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“Assignment on managing Organization Change”
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“Assignment on managing Organization Change”
A. key problem(s) / opportunities that drove the change in Uber
Uber adopted a system of "founder-friendly" governance with some board of directors holding
more voting power than others. One class of shares kept one vote each, while the other class
shares had 10 or more votes each. The company had 11 board seats under Uber's articles of
incorporation, nine of which had super-voting rights controlled by the shareholders. Co-founders
Kalanick and Camp and an employee Graves owned super-voting shares and managed the bulk
of the investors' votes. The trio dominated corporate decision-making, which left other
independent directors, mainly unrelated to the trio with little influence in the company (Wong,
2019).
The Uber crisis began in February 2017, when the company was informed by former software
engineer Susan Fowler of sexual assault, discrimination and extensive sexism. The harassment
faced by Fowler was supposed to be so repressive that it inspired other female workers at Uber to
present their own stories (Fast Company, 2019).
The findings of the highly anticipated internal investigation were published in Uber in June
2017. The report's conclusions were based on a lack of accountability and poor governance
(Strategic Finance, 2019). The Holder report specifically described Kalanick as part of the
problem as the first line and recommended to review and reallocate responsibilities of Travis
Kalanick. A total of 47 recommendations were made which also includes an emphasis on
diversity, review of the performance of the company and appointment of an independent
chairperson and overseeing committee to handle ethical problems (The Economic Times, 2019).
The report made adverse remarks on corporate governance and suggested that the board should
be more autonomous and other board members should be directors with significant experience
on other boards. They should exercise independent opinion of Uber's management.
Uber's board of directors was divided between a series of scandals. Benchmark Capital, an
investor with a 13 per cent stake in Uber and a leading ouster of Kalanick, filed a lawsuit against
Kalanick in August 2017 in connection with fraud, breach of the contract and violation of the
trust duty. The investor wanted to take him away from the board of Uber. Benchmark Capital
noted that when Kalanick produced three new board positions in June 2016 and made the
expansion of the board to 11 directors, he did not disclose the relevant documents to the
investors.
Travis Kalanick resigned as CEO of Uber on 21 June 2017. His resignation came after an audit
of Uber activities, including allegations of sexual harassment, a business bribery case, and
violation of government regulations, reports of abuse and the resignation of some of the top
executives due to a toxic corporate culture (Toxic Leadership and the Organizational
Commitment of Senior-Level Corporate Executives, 2019).
B. Goals and objectives of the change
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